Monday, September 22, 2008

Racial terminology used to 'define' Africans is fraught with absurdities and contradictions. Consider for example, the term 'sub-Saharan':

QUOTE
"The living peoples of the African continent are diverse in facial characteristics, stature, skin color, hair form, genetics, and other characteristics. No one set of characteristics is more African than another. Variability is also found in "sub-Saharan" Africa, to which the word "Africa" is sometimes erroneously restricted. There is a problem with definitions. Sometimes Africa is defined using cultural factors, like language, that exclude developments that clearly arose in Africa. For example, sometimes even the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea) is excluded because of geography and language and the fact that some of its peoples have narrow noses and faces.

However, the Horn is at the same latitude as Nigeria, and its languages are African. The latitude of 15 degree passes through Timbuktu, surely in "sub-Saharan Africa," as well as Khartoum in Sudan; both are north of the Horn. Another false idea is that supra-Saharan and Saharan Africa were peopled after the emergence of "Europeans" or Near Easterners by populations coming from outside Africa. Hence, the ancient Egyptians in some writings have been de-Africanized. These ideas, which limit the definition of Africa and Africans, are rooted in racism and earlier, erroneous "scientific" approaches."
(S. Keita, "The Diversity of Indigenous Africans," in Egypt in Africa, Theodore Clenko, Editor (1996), pp. 104-105.

==========================================cannibalism in Europe- Egyptian mummies a major source of dead flesh, fluids and bone for European consumption
--Consuming Grief, by Beth Conklin, 2001, pg 9-10

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Blood group research

Blood group and phenetic and phylogenetic classification research of Cavalli Sforza (1964) show that Europeans are a mongrel race, midway between Africans and Asians.
-- Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. and A.W.F. Edwards. 1967. Phylogenetic analysis: models and estimation procedures

"The overall contributions from Asia and Africa were estimated to be around two-thirds and one-third, respectively. Simulations have shown (7) that this hypothesis explains quite well the discrepancy between trees obtained by maximum likelihood and neighbor joining."
- L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza. (1997) Colloquium Paper: Genes, peoples, and languages. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 94

"[Gobineau] would die of rage and shame at this suggestion since he believed that Europeans . . . were the most genetically pure race, the most intellectually gifted and the least weakened by racial mixing.''
-L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza

Blood group research shows African-Italian admixture
"These findings indicate that hemoglobin S is only one of multiple African genes present in contemporary Sicilian populations. The occurrence of hemoglobin S in white persons of Sicilian ancestry is considered to be a manifestation of the continuing dissemination of the original African mutation."
--(Sandler, et al (1978)Acta Haematol. 1978;60(6):350-7.
Blood group phenotypes and the origin of sickle cell hemoglobin in Sicilians.)
http://thestudyofracialism.org/viewtopic.php?t=1563

In Egypt the frequency of B is much higher- 24% (Beckman 1959). Among Bantu groups B frequencies average 19% (Beckman 1959). In terms of type B then, the African percentages are much closer to the Egyptians than the Europeans.

[b]Advantage African in Type O[/b]As regards type "O" the greatest frequencies are found in the Americas, Australia and Africa, not Europe. Quote: "Populations with a group O phenotype frequency greater than 60% are found in native people of the Americas and in parts of Africa and Australia, but not in most of Europe or Asia." (Daniels 2006).

In Egypt the frequency of O is 33% (Beckman 1959) compared to the bantu average of 46%. (Beckman 1959), compared to smaller O frequencies for Europe. In terms of Type O then, the African percentages are much closer to Egyptians than Europeans.

-------------------[b]Summary- overall advantage: African[/b]

Summary: In 2 out of 3 blood groups, the Africans and closer to the Egyptians (Africans 66% - Europeans 33%). Advantage: African.

As for blood group A it is also found in Africa, though in lesser percentages than in Europe. However A1 makes up 95% of the A blood grouping. A2 is trivial in this group, being confined mostly to people like Lapps. Assorted "Aryan" claims to make King Tut white center around reputed findings of A2, but this rare marker is trivial to begin with. A2 is also found in Africa. Daniels 2006 shows A2 very much present in Africa. Hence white supremacist appropriation of King Tut based on blood type are idiotic. Africa itself provides more than enough variation to accommodate A2. King Tut then had more than enough scope to pick up A2 within Africa without needing the presence of "wandering Caucasoids" in the Nile Valley. Source: Daniels 2006, Essential Guide to Blood Groups).

So much for appropriating Egypt for "white Egyptians" based on blood type.

quote:[i]Interestingly, Africa in general (independent of any racial categorization) has a higher incidence of group B than Europe or the Middle East. Whether this is the result of intermingling or the original B gene pool is unknown, however it does imply that the links between ancient Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa are deeper and older than generally recognized. "[/i]-- D'Adamo (2002) "The Complete Blood Type Encyclopedia. pg 14